A Pervert
By Lauren Shuler
Are you all not disgusted by Soaphead Church? I was appalled by his monologue and story. His rationalization of pedophilia was astonishing especially when one looks at the tendency in relation to his misanthropic lifestyle. But I wondered, was he always such a person? How did he become so disturbed?
In the beginning of his biography, Morisson describes Soaphead’s lineage. According to her, “he had been reared in a family proud of its academic accomplishments and its mixed blood—in fact they believed the former was based on the latter” (167). She goes on to explain that the family “married “up,” lightening the family complexion and thinning out the family features” (168). So the family does not pride itself on mixed blood, it prides itself on having some white lineage. According to Soaphead, “all that was worth learning [was to] separate [oneself] in body, mind, and spirit from all that suggested Africa” (167). Growing up in this manner, where half of his ethnicity was not only ignored, but frowned upon, must have created strong dissonance in Soaphead’s identity. How was he to know who he was if part of what he knew to be true, his race, was viewed with hate.
He learned at a young age “the fine art of self-deception” (169). The confusion based around his identity, or lack thereof, created a denial mechanism in him as an only means of salvation. The less confidence we have in something, the more likely we are to deny its existence. Since Soaphead deceives himself, maybe he finds no fault in the deception of others. Furthermore, this self denial leads to misanthropic tendencies perhaps to avoid all those who may find comfort in their own identities. Soaphead becomes so perversely confident in his lack of identity that he launches a diatribe on God blaming him for making “a sloven and unforgivable error in judgment: designing an imperfect universe” (172). Soaphead becomes so lost that he believes he has God-like powers: “I played you. And it was a very good show!” (182). Soaphead skirts his own identity so extensively that he believes himself invincible and deserving of complete perfection.
In his desire for cleanliness, Soaphead ends up indulging in dirty acts. His disturbing fascination with little girls might only be explained in his own words, “they were those humans whose bodies were least offensive” (166). His sexual molestation of fulfills his “fascination with disorder and decay” without violating his compulsive cleanliness. He finds the rare comfort in a perverse intimacy with small children perhaps because they themselves still control the pure innocence he admires but never had. Maybe he doesn’t attempt to molest Pecola because he senses her lack of innocence as per her request of blue eyes.
Soaphead’s own lack of identity may result from the mixed messages in his childhood or even simple brain chemistry. Whatever the reason, his self-confusion causes his “hatred of, and fascination with, any hint of disorder or decay” (169). He isn’t “a very clean old man,” but truly a perverted one.
Are you all not disgusted by Soaphead Church? I was appalled by his monologue and story. His rationalization of pedophilia was astonishing especially when one looks at the tendency in relation to his misanthropic lifestyle. But I wondered, was he always such a person? How did he become so disturbed?
In the beginning of his biography, Morisson describes Soaphead’s lineage. According to her, “he had been reared in a family proud of its academic accomplishments and its mixed blood—in fact they believed the former was based on the latter” (167). She goes on to explain that the family “married “up,” lightening the family complexion and thinning out the family features” (168). So the family does not pride itself on mixed blood, it prides itself on having some white lineage. According to Soaphead, “all that was worth learning [was to] separate [oneself] in body, mind, and spirit from all that suggested Africa” (167). Growing up in this manner, where half of his ethnicity was not only ignored, but frowned upon, must have created strong dissonance in Soaphead’s identity. How was he to know who he was if part of what he knew to be true, his race, was viewed with hate.
He learned at a young age “the fine art of self-deception” (169). The confusion based around his identity, or lack thereof, created a denial mechanism in him as an only means of salvation. The less confidence we have in something, the more likely we are to deny its existence. Since Soaphead deceives himself, maybe he finds no fault in the deception of others. Furthermore, this self denial leads to misanthropic tendencies perhaps to avoid all those who may find comfort in their own identities. Soaphead becomes so perversely confident in his lack of identity that he launches a diatribe on God blaming him for making “a sloven and unforgivable error in judgment: designing an imperfect universe” (172). Soaphead becomes so lost that he believes he has God-like powers: “I played you. And it was a very good show!” (182). Soaphead skirts his own identity so extensively that he believes himself invincible and deserving of complete perfection.
In his desire for cleanliness, Soaphead ends up indulging in dirty acts. His disturbing fascination with little girls might only be explained in his own words, “they were those humans whose bodies were least offensive” (166). His sexual molestation of fulfills his “fascination with disorder and decay” without violating his compulsive cleanliness. He finds the rare comfort in a perverse intimacy with small children perhaps because they themselves still control the pure innocence he admires but never had. Maybe he doesn’t attempt to molest Pecola because he senses her lack of innocence as per her request of blue eyes.
Soaphead’s own lack of identity may result from the mixed messages in his childhood or even simple brain chemistry. Whatever the reason, his self-confusion causes his “hatred of, and fascination with, any hint of disorder or decay” (169). He isn’t “a very clean old man,” but truly a perverted one.
posted by Ms. Jefferson at 5:06 AM
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